Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are now listening to the Someone's Favorite Productions podcast network.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Okay, we are back on the A twenty four New
Ave podcast. This is episode eight and I am joined
by Lewis Hill. Well, Lewis, hey, Aeron, how's it going good?
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Now?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Lewis, you are an og FM, which is we've used
that phrase, I hopefully hopefully you're proudly an OGFM. But
you've been with us since like the very very beginning,
uh so, and you just went through the the A
twenty four journey with us. So we're going to talk
about that, but first you want to tell our listeners
and viewers a little about yourself.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Sure?
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Yeah, So I am a you know, proud OGFM of
Senate Journey. So been part of the community pretty much
right since it started, you know, not not too much
of a background, you know, to really get into other
than you know, I'm just I love movies. I consider
(01:04):
myself a cinephile, have been for you know, a serious cinephile,
I would say for the last you know, fifteen years
or so. And you know, I found you know, Aaron
and Jill through Criterion now and I think you you
Aaron previously, you know from from other podcasts like on
the Criterion Cast you know network, and just been following
(01:27):
you guys, and when you created Sinate Journeys, it was
just a great opportunity to you know, really jump in
and be a part of a you know, a great
film community. That something that I had been lacking and
kind of missing and wanting to be a part of.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Well, thank you so much. That's all I want to
We're gonna get. We just wanted to hear out awesomely.
Now now, okay, you're selling yourself short. You did not
just like you know, materialize when we formed this thing.
You have been a very start I mean that's the
one thing about community like this is you know, you know,
as we grow, as we include more people, you know,
(02:06):
it just grows stronger. And I think you have been
at the nucleus really of that, for lack of a
better term, and for this project, you actually have an
even more prominent part. So back up to last year,
I guess about six months ago October, Lewis and I
went to a movie together. We live in the same state,
(02:27):
about an hour and a half or so, about an
hour fifteen, Yeah, and so we went to see Anora
and I don't know if I'd told you at the time,
but I had this idea kicking around in my head.
I was like, okay, well I got this company, it's
going well, you know, got a website. What else can
I do with it? I'd like to write a books.
(02:48):
I've always been a writer. I think you don't know that,
but I was thinking about A twenty four and I
think you probably had seen a couple of videos I
recorded last year just as and the idea was germinating.
So we went to Anora, had a great time, and
that was our first viewing. I've now seen it four times.
The Criterion's about to get here, so that'll make it
(03:09):
six to eight total. And we sat out in the
parking lot and talked about it and unpacked it. It
was a lot of fun. And really from that moment
on is when I started writing. Like literally that evening
when I started writing so and since then so a
few and I write fast. So a few months later
(03:29):
I had enough words that this was actually coming together.
Jill and I had worked on it, so that, of course,
you know, we've been through the Kickstarter everything, the rest
is history. Now we're actually just today we talked about
the layout design publication. So it's a lot of fun.
But so anyway, long story short, you're more than just you.
(03:52):
You do not have a no background that sounds like
something like a Ben still Er skit would say. But anyway,
it's good, great to have you.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Yeah, thanks for having me so to tee this up.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
We're talking today because it is now May and we
have just undergone a twenty four journey. So for people
that were not part of the Kickstarter or are not
members of Sinner Journeys, really this was just a way
for me to kind of like, well not away for me, yes,
it was a way I used this platform in this
(04:27):
community for my own gain or at least the project's gain.
But really we kind of I put some films together
just based on the writing I'd done and some I
hadn't done yet that I wanted to prepare for and
wanted to share that with you guys a little bit.
And so we had three weeks and this was after
the Kickstarter, after I'd completed watching all the A twenty
(04:48):
four films, and after I had you know, around one
hundred thousand words down. So we had three chapters. One
was the last one was New Horror the one before
that was critical acclaim with uh that was Ladybird and
first Cow and then the first one was The Origin,
so that was ex Makna and The Lobster. Very important films.
(05:12):
Oh and the new horror was The Witch, and I
saw The TV Glow, which was fun to have a
more recent film. But Lewis, you had gone a little further,
and I know you had started watching some other A
twenty four films throughout the month, So we'd love to
start there and just ask what you know, kind of
what you were exposed to. I know you have a
lean on Pete background. I was pretty high on that movie.
(05:34):
So how was your your personal journey away from the
journey in April?
Speaker 1 (05:39):
It was, It was fantastic. Actually, I was, you know,
pleasantly surprised. Of course, we all know A twenty four's
reputation for you know, quality and a certain aesthetic and
vibe and and they're kind of their place in you know,
modern you know, cinema culture. But I was actually surprised
(06:02):
how strong it was. So I looked back at Letterbox
today and I ended up watching seventeen A twenty four
films during April, so, you know, not in the grand
scheme of things. That's like what ten percent of their
total number about, but you know, still pretty good for
one month. Twelve of those were new to me and
(06:23):
five were rewatches, so you know several I think five
of the six films in the Journey that they were
part of the call discussions I had seen. I believe
First col was the only one I had not seen,
and it was it was just it was very rewarding,
(06:44):
you know, I chose. Actually the way I did this,
Aaron is I actually took your ranked list and went
through it at the top and started making a short
list of all of the ones that I felt like
I was most interested in, you know, based on your rating,
based on my memory of their critical reception, and you know,
(07:08):
the directors, you know, all of that. And it was
so rewarding just because typically with me, if I don't
catch something, if it's a new release, I don't catch
it in the year it comes out or maybe the
following year. It kind of gets put on the back
burner if I don't have a real reason to go
to it, even if it's a film sometimes by a
director in this case, like Kelly Reiker with First Cow
(07:32):
or Andrew Hay with lean On Pete and it just
kind of gets pushed back and that's why it was
so rewarding. I would say lean On Pete was probably
my favorite of the of the New to Me. I mean,
I think it's probably on my current A twenty four list.
(07:52):
I think I have it at number five, so you know,
very high up. And then you know some of the
other very very rewarding watches. Definitely first cal is way
up there, very very impressed by by Kelly Rekerd, you know,
as I always am with their films, and you know,
ones that I had a feeling I would like but
(08:14):
maybe caught me a little more off guard. I was
was Joanna Hoggs The Souvenir and The Souvenir Part two.
I really really dug both of those films. Part two
I felt was a little bit stronger. You know, that
Richard Iba director performance, and that you know, uh uh
(08:34):
you know spoiler alert for for May that Powell and
press Berger influenced kind of finale that amazing sequence there
at the end of that film. So uh, that's that's
a you know, high level of of the New to Me.
And the rewatchers were all very rewarding. I didn't have
anything that really fell you know, Ladybird, the Witch uncut
(08:59):
Gems were all ones that I had really hot.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yeah, I saw you're reading that.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Yeah, and so fun.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
I mean, I say fun movie quotes. Air quotes are fun.
Any saftes is.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Air quotes fun.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
I found it actually a lot more fun this time
than I remembered, you know, I just remembered the anxiety. Yeah,
but this, but it actually really is a lot of
fun on rewatch.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
It really is. Actually I've probably seen that three times
and I haven't finished that chapter yet. In fact, that's
that's a chapter because one thing with the chapters that
I'm writing is I I talk about the influences a lot,
and I kind of used this as a just an
off point to look at film history, and not all
of film history has influenced a twenty four directors. And
(09:43):
in fact there's of course Scorsese has influenced like everybody
in film, but like you know, his very specific influence
aside from maybe like the needle drops, it was really
not present aside in a lot of films, aside from
like the safties. So so that's why I'm probably gonna
put it before, you know, part three, before twenty twenty,
(10:05):
which actually the twenty twenty chapter is called the Fucking
Pandemic and that's where I have Jonah and I'm not
changing that name. It's a fucking pandemic. I've embraced that name,
that chapter name. But that's going to have Joanna Hogg. Honestly,
she deserves her own chapter, I think, but I just
can't write a thousand page book. So she was kind
(10:27):
of a I'm not going to say a casualty, but
in a way. You know, the both souvenir movies were
both very acclaimed but didn't really find the mainstream audience
or I shouldn't say mainstream, but the widespread audience that
a lot of a twenty four films do find. And
then The Eternal Daughter is also good, and that was
(10:49):
kind of a that was a casualty of The Pandemic
because it was shot in a very remote setting and
I think, I think it's a good film, but I
you know, I think it could have been could have
done more and different circumstances, but you know, that's what
they had.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Yeah, The Eternal Daughter was actually probably my next up
to watch, so too.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
I won't I won't spoil it. It's Tilda so till
Till She's always great. Lean On Pete is one of those. Well,
you know we have a Western chapter, I say we, Well,
I guess it is a week but the modern Western.
So First Cow is a big part of that, and
Leana the thing about A twenty four, and I don't
(11:32):
know how many others you watch, but they've kind of
been a part of this new reimagining of the Western.
And sometimes it's kind of gritty, which is like a
no country for old men influence, which I still think
of it as a Western. Actually, I got the background here,
pta uh yeah, I think there will be blood has
a little bit of influence on that as well. And
then there's more character oriented, which is where I see
(11:54):
lean On Pete. And you know, that's just one example,
but it's a pretty powerful example. So are there any
other Westerns that you saw that Well, I guess First
Cow would be one, But any of that or any
others you have any thoughts.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
I think those are the only two that I watched.
I was slow West was on my list. I definitely
wanted to get to it but didn't quite make it,
but I definitely was intrigued and I really thought about
this actually when I was looking for this background from
Leon Pete on a Google image. Shirts one of the
things that Andrew Hay did that I was so impressed by,
(12:30):
in addition to just his the absolute perfect blending of
traditional drama with melodrama in the film. It just it
was so definitely handled. But he doesn't he doesn't really,
I guess idolize the West. You don't have a whole
(12:51):
lot of picturesque panoramic shots. Yeah, and that's something that
I found really interesting because I just kind of figured
out I'll be able to find a beautiful shot from Lenon,
but then it was like, not really. And I think
that was really really interesting, you know. And maybe it
has to do with his you know, being you know,
from the UK, And honestly, I was just amazed that
(13:11):
he was able to write this story in this setting
as well as he did.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
I've actually grabbed some screens from that and I but
you're right, I tend to go with the interiors. There
are a lot of night scenes that are shot very well,
that look look very nice, and it's but that's more
about the framing. It's not going to be like a
Terrence Malki in Magic Hower kind of shot, whereas other
westerns A twenty four like The Power of the Dog
for instances, that's not a twenty four, But Slow West
(13:39):
is very similar. You know, it has a lot of
those vista's shot at the same location. So I'd say
First Cow has has some of those, a lot of nature,
very very aesthetically gorgeous film. Yeah, Leena Pete. And that's
the thing is I would say Janet Planet might might
be another. I don't know if you've seen that. I'm
(14:00):
I'm actually not as high on that as others, but
i think it's beautiful. But that's the one thing is,
you know, this is a company I'm writing about a
distributor and producer of films, and Andrew Hay has not
made another one with them, but he's you know, very
successful and decorated director and in fact probably cover him
(14:22):
when looking at some of the Purple filmmakers because of
his work, you know, forty five years, Weekend, All the Strangers,
that sort of thing. And same with Kelly Reichhart. She's
made a couple. She has when it can this year,
so I'm hoping to see that she has two in
age twenty four, but of course she has a larger
(14:43):
body of work. But yeah, so any other standouts from
the month, I know we have the ones you rewatched.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Yeah, so.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Climax was was a good fun one at my actually
my first guest way experience.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Wow, that's a good first one. Yeah, that's it just
gets more crazy crazy crazy cray crazy from there. I
can imagine you know what you're getting into.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Definitely, But that was that was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
You know, I didn't really there was maybe only I
think only of the seventeen I either watched for the
first time or rewatch, maybe only one is one that
I would say that I didn't really care for. You know,
it was all at least it was you know, fun
or interesting, you know, to get the heart on letter
(15:34):
box for me, which is basically just the thumbs up,
you know, so nice.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Yeah, it's funny how we all have our systems there.
But yeah, no, I will be honest with you, having
having watched them all. You know, that was sometimes enjoyable,
sometimes not. There are some bad films. I think you
might remember a couple of slides from the month. I
shared some of the ones that that you probably haven't
seen that not a lot of people have seen that.
(16:01):
Sometimes there's a reason for that, and then there's other
times that like, you know, just there was a good
idea and you know, they took a big swing, big
risk and didn't didn't quite pan out. But but yeah,
there's there's one hundred. I think my list is at
one hundred and seventy seven now, And of course Legend
of Ochi is out in theaters, so it's not doing well,
(16:22):
so I don't know if i'll catch that before it. Yeah,
it's tough tough to hit hit them in theaters if
they're just one week, but then they have I'm going
to see Friendship, so that's exciting.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
It does definitely looks interesting.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
I'm actually seeing that with Jill, so we're seeing it.
Probably gonna be this podcast will probably be out after
I see it with Jill, so so we'll report back
on that. I don't think it's going to be terrible, though,
I might have a different hat next time, next next episode,
so hold out for that. But yeah, it's been fun.
It's been a fun way for me to look at
(16:59):
look at them, uh, you know, kind of retrospectively. I'm
into classic film, so of course I will watch modern film,
but like you, if I miss it, I miss it.
So I've been catching up a little bit. We'll else,
We'll share is throughout the month for my writing and
feel free to jump in. I first off, it took
a lot of work for me to put this together.
(17:19):
Just the journeys are hopefully you can tell they're a
little it's not just cobbling together a spreadsheet or a
PowerPoint it is, but it's a pretty comprehensive. And I'm
also doing taking notes and researching and all that. So
I I did so the first week was uh, why
I'm blank and all oh the way, I'm sorry, x
(17:41):
Makna and and the Lobster. So I so what I
what I did is well, for for the Lobster, for Lanthemos,
we were doing. I put the Greek the Greek Greek
weird wave, which is a pretty unique film movement because
it's relatively modern, and actually Lanthemos is at the heart
of it. So I wrote some about that, and then
(18:02):
I wrote a little bit more about ex Machina and Garland.
Let's see the middle, so Lady Bird is actually I
had already written all that, and I think I shared
some of it with you.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
I don't did share because you were you were very
eager because obviously that's a very very big film for you.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
I love that one. Yeah, and I think my favorite
part of what I've written was I think made the deck.
I can't remember it was about the ending, so I
think part of it not not my favorite paragraph, but
you know, it's really two three pages. I can't really
put those in a deck. And then finally it was
nice to see I saw the TV glow and and
(18:39):
kind of unpack the recent and I think that's just
amazing with the and of course, representation is a big
part of this journey, and so this is a new
you know, I say new because really I think this
is the film to represent you know, transgender. So I
really loved unpacking that. And yeah, what else was there?
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Yeah, well I'll go back to check and speak.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Yeah, the Witch, which that was great.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
You know, I think you know, you and I are
both big fans, so not everybody, but we definitely are.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Yeah. I had, like I was maybe about two thirds
of the way through the Robert Eggers chapter, so I
haven't finished all the writing, but during the journey I
did go back and revisit. Really, he has four films,
so it's a little easier, but I watched them all twice,
took a lot of good notes, did some reading, read
the screenplay, actually read a lot of screenplays. So yeah,
(19:33):
it's been a really rewarding month. So thank you for
joining me on this. Looked like you had something else
to say.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Oh yeah, I was just going to say, you know,
speaking of The Witch and The Lobster, those were two
films that I revisited that I was very high on,
very much like, but hadn't seen them in the decades
since they came out. When I saw them in theaters,
and I really felt like because that each of those
films that was my first experience with that respective director
is my first Lantemos and The Witch was my first egg,
(20:00):
and I feel like I just haven't been as high
on the other films. I don't really dislike many of
the other films, but I'm just sort of like, oh,
they're good.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
They're pretty good.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
But I love those two and I was expecting on
rewatched for them probably to take a dip for me,
and they really didn't.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
I think I liked him just as much as I
did originally.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
I've probably seen well, I looked at them pretty closely.
I think I've probably seen them both at least a
couple more times. Those are great rewatch movies. The Lotster
just gets funnier. The Witch just gets more ominous and
more crazy and actually more uh, you know, it moves faster,
it's and you know it's coming, like you're you're you
know what you're waiting for. It's like, okay, let's get
to this part. You know, I'll just say butter. Butter
(20:46):
is the scene that I'm like, Okay, yes, we're there. Well,
great discussion. Thanks again for digging into this and in
anywhere people can find you your letterbox or anything.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Or yeah, you can find me on letterbox. You know
I'm on There's Lewis Hill or you know at the
Wet bandit eighty one.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
So and i'll put that in the show notes too,
and actually, if you can share your list, i'll put
my ranked list. Thank you by the way for using that.
I had a lot of fun putting that together. And
we'll put them. Yeah, compare notes, compare ranks. Although I
have a feeling they're pretty close. So thanks for joining.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Yes, thank you Eric.
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